The Doctor Triangle
by xXdreameaterXx
Summary: The 10th Doctor finally found someone suitable for a companion again. She is beautiful, clever, funny and he wants her. There is only one problem: Her name is Clara Oswald and she is already travelling with his future self. How will they solve this confusing triangle? Set after "The Day of the Doctor". TenxClaraxEleven
1. Chapter 1 - 10th Doctor

**Chapter 1 - 10th Doctor**

He parked the TARDIS just around the corner of the apartment building. It was good place to observe, he thought. Maybe through observation he would understand why this girl seemed so meaningful. The Doctor wasn't sure when it started but he had dreamed about her every other night at first. And the more he tried to put his finger on the mystery that was this young brunette, the more dreams came. He had thought about it and was very sure to have met her several times under different circumstances.

The Doctor remembered a few incidents: she was a patient in the hospital that was abducted and taken to the moon, she was a student at the school taken over by Krillitanes.

He knew that eventually he had to go in, say hello and scan her apartment. How else was he going to find out if she had a time travelling device, a vortex manipulator maybe? After that he could just ask her where she got it and demand she stopped at once. The Doctor knew that time was nothing to be played with, but did this girl?

As luck would have it, a motorcycle arrived and the young woman he'd been waiting for dismounted and headed for the door of the apartment building. It seemed to be the Doctor's lucky day. He had tried on several occasions but she never showed up. Today was the day. He hid behind the TARDIS until she was inside the building and then made a run for the door. It closed right in front of him. Hastily he searched for his sonic screwdriver, unlocked the door and followed her inside. Her steps were still audible, above his head, 4th or 5th floor until they stopped. _That's it_, he thought, _one step to solving another mystery_.

There was a TARDIS-blue doormat in front of her door, welcoming any stranger that might set foot inside her apartment. He looked at the doorbell and read her name: Clara Oswald. The name seemed strangely familiar to him, like everything about that girl. He had no choice. He rang the bell.

Clara answered the door with a smile that quickly faded once she saw him. Her face, so happy and cheerful before, stared at him in confusion.

"You," was all she said at first.

You? That was an add way to greet him, he had to say. Of course, he was well known throughout the universe but no human has ever. . . unless. . . she knew him. It was at that precise moment the Doctor realized he wanted her as his companion. The decision, of course, was already made when he came here, but now he knew. He had to have her. By looking at her alone the Doctor could tell that she was adventurous, smart and funny and he had been alone for so long.

"I'm not really an expert, but I don't think you should be here," she interrupted his train of thought.

He ignored her last statement.

"Clara Oswald, I want you to come with me."

"Come where?" she asked and now she smiled.

"With me. In the TARDIS. To travel anywhere in time and space," he said enthusiastically.

"Uhm, okay. Let me just get my purse."

Clara grabbed her purse and closed the door before she turned to look at him. "So, where are we going?"


	2. Chapter 2 - Clara

**Chapter 2 – Clara**

Ever since she first stepped into the Doctor's TARDIS her life has been anything but normal but Clara liked it that way. Of course, a younger, different version of her Doctor coming to her door and picking her up to see the universe was something new. She wondered what could have happened to make him come because she knew the Doctor had had different companions before her. And why had _her_ Doctor never mentioned he travelled with her before?

It wasn't so different though, was it? After all, he was the same man. It was the same TARDIS. The Doctor pulled out his key and opened the door to his beloved blue box.

"Welcome to the TARDIS," he said while leading her inside.

It looked different but she had already caught a glimpse of it during the adventure of saving Gallifrey.

Clara smiled. It looked a little messy but also a lot more comfortable than she TARDIS she was used to.

"So, where are we going?" she wanted to know.

"Aren't you going to say it?" he asked back, looking happy but also a little confused. He was so different from the man who became her best friend. Sure, it was the same Doctor, but there was no childishness about him. And his eyes looked so much younger.

"Say what?"

"Let me think. Strange man asks girl to travel through time and space, strange man and girl step into a small wooden blue box, box is _bigger on the inside_," he nodded his head to the side.

At this moment it hit Clara. He didn't know her. And how could he? _Her_ Doctor and herself were the only ones who could remember anything about the adventure they had been on together. The Doctor had tried to explain it to her but all she had understood was "timey wimey". So, if he didn't know her, he probably came to her at random. And that wasn't good, was it? After all, she was his future.

"Doctor," she said, "I think we have a problem."


	3. Chapter 3 - 10th Doctor

Thanks for the review. Yes, I am trying to hurry up with the writing of the chapters. And I am actually surprised no one's had this idea before :D

**Chapter 3 - 10th Doctor**

Doctor? DOCTOR? _So, she does know me_, he thought. _That explains why she wasn't surprised to see the TARDIS. Everyone is surprised to see the TARDIS because, well_.

The way Clara looked at him right now, her clever eyes, her knowing look. She was a keeper and whatever was going to follow, the Doctor would find a way.

"You women always have problems, don't you? It doesn't matter, they will still be here when we come back. And we really can come back any time, you know, this is a time machine," he said and started pushing buttons on the console. "So, where are we headed? I've never met Rasputin, have you? Would you like to meet him? But I must warn you, I've heard he is a bit of a womanizer."

"Doctor!", Clara said, just standing there in the door of the TARDIS.

"Not your type, eh? How about. . . Beethoven? Or Chaucer, mh, how about him?"

"Met them both, but Doctor," she pressed, "We can't do this. I think you shouldn't even _be_ here."

"Okay, you know me, I get it. But why don't I know you?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm from your future and . . . should I even be telling you this?" she seemed unsure.

The Doctor sat down on the seats next to the console and stared at Clara. "Of course," he whispered more to himself than to her.

"Of course what?" she asked.

"We were. . . you and him. . . and me. The day I forgot. It is all a little foggy but we did something. I crossed my own time line and forgot. You're my companion."

"Will be," Clara corrected him.

"Yes, of course, will be."

Clara approached him and the Doctor made his decision.

"No," he said, "You _are_ my companion."

"Well, technically, yeah. For me, it is now. But you'll have to wait a few more years."

"I want you to travel with me now. This me. Not the other," the Doctor said, now regaining his eagerness. He walked back to the console to meddle with a few more buttons.

The Doctor knew he was being selfish. Lonely, impatient and selfish. He had been travelling alone for so long and now he had found a new companion. It was kind of stupid though, like stealing something from yourself but he didn't care. He was time traveller after all. This should be possible.

"But won't it change things for your future self?" Clara asked and looked quite scared, "I mean, you're like changing . . . I don't even know what you're doing but it sounds complicated. Your future you will know you've travelled with me in the past and since he didn't know it before, he will know then and won't it be weird?"

"You make absolutely no sense," the Doctor smiled at her, "And it doesn't have to be for long. It can be just a little trip. No harm done, right?"

The Doctor stretched out his hand to her and she frowned at him.

"Okay, but just one little trip," she said and grabbed his hand.

"Let's visit Henry VIII."

The Doctor dragged her to the console and she grabbed the handle tightly.

"So, Geronimo?" she asked.

"Geronimo? What kind of nonsense is that? Allons-y!"


	4. Chapter 4 - Clara

**Chapter 4 – Clara**

Travelling with _her_ Doctor was one thing. Travelling with his former self was something else entirely. How could he be the same man and at the same time be someone so different? He was still the adventurer, still curious about everything and ran straight into danger. But when he thought she wasn't looking his eyes were filled with sadness and loneliness. That was probably why we agreed to go with him. Clara knew that her best friend needed her now. But he wasn't her best friend, was he? He knew nothing about her. And she knew nothing about him. She knew _her_ Doctor, the one who never spoke about the past except to brag with another experience. Maybe he would answer the questions she had had for a long time.

"Okay, we've arrived. England, 1535," the Doctor said, "Henry VIII is married to Anne Boleyn, his second wife and is now raiding every catholic monastery because of his new church."

"Okay, let's see it," Clara said eagerly and headed for the door.

"Wait, wait, wait. You'll need to change."

"Change? But why?"

"I've encountered Queen Victoria once in normal clothes. She was not amused."

"Alright, I'll change," Clara said grumpily and headed for the dressing room. As usually she took the third door on the left and opened it. Before she even knew what she saw, a scream escaped her lips and she banged the door and came running back into the control room.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"There. . . there. . . monster. . . third door on the left," she stuttered.

The Doctor looked at her in bewilderment for a moment and then remembered what must be in the room Clara had just mistaken for the closet.

"Ohh, ohhhh, _that_. Nooo, it's not a monster, it is an Ood," he explained.

"Okay, but. . . why exactly is there an whatever that thing is in the closet?"

"That is Ood Omega. He was sort of banished by his master after a teensy little red eye incident. He is harmless and a decent butler. I've actually forgotten that I have him. He tends to wander off in the TARDIS and gets lost. Haven't seen him in years."

"Oh, well, I didn't understand half of that but I guess third door on the left is not the closet."

"What? Er, no. . . it's the first door on the right," the Doctor said.

"Okay," Clara answered and went to get dressed.

The room was different, the clothes weren't. She browsed through the closet for a while, not really paying attention to the dresses. Clara wondered if the thing she saw, the Ood, was still in the TARDIS with her Doctor.

After she put on a Tudor style dress, she emerged from the closet again. Clara should ask him some questions. There were things she wanted to know so bad, but she wasn't sure how to start.

"Were you travelling alone when you met Queen Victoria?" she asked.

The Doctor, who seemed distracted, looked at her and said nothing for a while.

"Haven't I already told you this story?"

"No, you, ehm, the other you, doesn't really talk about the past."

"Then I shouldn't tell you."

"Sorry, I got that wrong. The other you talks about his past like _all _the time," she exaggerated her expression on purpose, "I doubt there is a thing I don't know about you. But I have a _reeeeaaaaally_ bad memory."

"Nice try, Clara Oswald," he said with a smile and then paused for a moment.

Clara wasn't sure if he was going to tell her or not. They were, after the all, the same man. But so different.

"Her name was Rose Tyler," that was all he replied.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Clara knew she had gone too far. But now she couldn't take it back.

"I didn't fall in love with humans very often. I love them, I loved them all. But I was in love with Rose Tyler. And I lost her. But that was a long time ago," he said and opened the TARDIS door to 1535.

"Something is wrong. I can smell it."

Clara peeked around the corner of the TARDIS and chuckled. "Yeah, I smell it, too. But it's not something wrong, it is horse dung. We've landed in a stable."


End file.
